


Suits You Sir!

by vix_spes



Series: Ties of the Heart 'verse [7]
Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Family, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-18
Updated: 2015-08-18
Packaged: 2018-04-15 11:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4605042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes, being an honourary uncle and Chandler just don't fit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Suits You Sir!

As he crossed the border and officially entered Wales, DI Joseph Chandler was almost overwhelmed with the urge to head for the hills and make some excuse, any excuse to Miles. What had possessed him to agree to this? Why did he have a complete inability to say no to Judy? Not for the first time when dealing with the Miles family, Chandler almost regretted allowing himself to almost be adopted into the family and then regretted it immediately. He loved Miles' family, he really did but he was seriously wondering whether this was a wise idea.

Elizabeth finally having been deemed old enough, Ray and Judy had decided to venture a little further afield than usual for their annual summer holiday. Miles had stated that he didn't see the point in holidays abroad until the kids were old enough to appreciate them and so had plumped for Wales instead. Two weeks in a cottage in Wales. Chandler really did worry about Miles sometimes if he thought that that was going to be a summer holiday. Everybody knew that summer in Wales meant that it drizzled rather than bucketed it down and, if you were very lucky, the sun managed to weakly break through the clouds one afternoon a week. As if that weren't bad enough, Judy's sister was joining them for one of the two weeks.

Chandler wasn't entirely sure when he had agreed to meet them and stay for a long weekend. It seemed as though one minute his holiday had been blissfully blank and then the next, there had been a long weekend blacked out for him to join the Miles family in Wales. Clearly Judy had picked her time cleverly and cornered him when he was exhausted and in a food coma post-case. He also had no doubts that she wouldn't have hesitated to use Elizabeth as emotional blackmail if he had hesitated too long in answering or looked as though he was going to give the answer that she didn't want to hear. Regardless, he was no heading deeper into the Welsh countryside, hoping desperately that he was heading in the right direction, not entirely sure what was in store for him.

(~*~)

Four days later and Chandler was actually glad that he had been bullied into coming as he had enjoyed himself far more than he had thought possible. Unsurprisingly, the weather hadn't been amazing but on the first day it had been nice enough for the children to play on the beach in wetsuits while the adults huddled up in jumpers and blankets, passing around a flask of hot tea to stop themselves from freezing.

The other two days, thanks to the temperamental weather, they managed to divert the children away from the beach to Miles' relief (he was already grumbling about there being sand everywhere). To Chandler's pleasure, they had visited the ruins of Pennard Castle as well as Penllegare Valley Woods, both of them being a bit more to his interests. However, on the Sunday, they woke up to bucketing rain and no sign on the weather forecast of it abating before late evening. Judy had announced that she had wet weather plans organised and that while she took Elizabeth shopping in Swansea, Miles and Chandler would be taking the boys to play laserquest. Of course, that had gone down like a lead balloon with Miles and Chandler, both of them remembering quite clearly how they had been humiliated by traffic. No amount of remonstrating had budged Judy though and, not four hours after she had dropped them off, she picked up two sulking adults who had been soundly thrashed by two pre-teens.

To the children's delight, Chandler's final day had dawned bright and sunny which apparently automatically meant a beach day. It also meant that Chandler was faced with three pouting and woebegone Miles', none of them wanting Chandler to leave. Elizabeth had even managed a convincing sheen of tears which coincidentally disappeared the instant that Chandler agreed to stay for an extra day. Once on the beach, Chandler found himself glaring at Miles as he ducked out of the surfing, having the gall to tell the instructor that the children's uncle would be joining them instead, meaning that Chandler had to struggle into a tight wetsuit. He wouldn't admit it out loud to anybody except the children but Chandler enjoyed himself far more than he had thought possible, even if he had fallen off his board a few too many times for his liking.

Of course, with it being a Welsh summer, the sunshine didn't last long and, mid-afternoon they found themselves having to race for the beach amidst torrential rain. The second that the downpour had started, Miles and Judy had started packing their things into the car and the instant that Chandler and the children reached them, Judy simply wrapped all four of them in blankets and towels and pushed them into the car.

As far as Chandler was concerned, the real problem began when they got back to the cottage. With the cottage sleeping so many people, there were two bathrooms – one of which Judy appropriated immediately to bath a shivering Elizabeth while Miles ushered Edward into the second one. Knowing that he might be facing a long wait, Chandler accepted a dry towel and a steaming mug of tea from Miles while he waited. The best thing, once Chandler finally got in the shower, was that the cottage seemed to have unlimited hot water which meant that he could luxuriate in the hot water until he finally felt as though his insides had thawed.

He ran into his problem once he stepped out of the shower and into the bedroom that he had been using for the weekend. All of his clothes had mysteriously vanished with the only piece of clothing in sight being a short pale-pink dressing gown. The clothes that he had worn to the beach were soaking wet and full of sand, the rest of his clothes were who knew where and he didn't really relish wearing a damp towel for the rest of the evening. Not seeing any other option, he put on the dressing gown and headed downstairs, hoping desperately that he saw Judy first. To his relief, luck was on his side.

“Judy, what the hell is this? Where are all my clothes?”

“I'm sorry Joe. I threw them in the washing machine this morning when I knew you were staying an extra day. I thought I could save you a job when you got home. That's the only thing there is unless we see if something of Ray's will fit you.”

Chandler heard a low chuckle and resisted the urge to groan as he turned round to see Miles with his phone in hand.

“Oh, I don't know about that Judy, I think it suits you sir!”

**Author's Note:**

> If you would prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/201308.html)


End file.
